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Ted Toadvine   

Ted Toadvine
Department of Philosophy
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1295

toadvine@uoregon.edu
(541) 346-5554 :Office (room 319 PLC)
(541) 346-5544 :FAX
Webpage: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~toadvine

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research focuses on contemporary continental philosophy (especially phenomenology and post-structuralism) and environmental philosophy, including environmental ethics, aesthetics, ontology, and the philosophy of nature more broadly. I have pioneered an approach known as "ecophenomenology," which holds that the methodology of phenomenology is uniquely situated to illuminate contemporary environmental debates. Under this rubric, my work has branched in two related directions: first, contributions to environmental philosophy that take an ecophenomenological approach; and, secondly, investigations of method in phenomenology, and Continental philosophy more generally, that have a bearing on the philosophy of nature.
My joint appointment with the Environmental Studies Program http://envs.uoregon.edu/ has made it possible to focus on the intersection of these interests and explore emerging resonances between them.
I have just completed a monograph on Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of Nature (now currently under review) which offers the first comprehensive treatment of Merleau-Ponty's account of nature and the transformation of the phenomenological method toward which his reflections on nature lead. I am now completing a second monograph, The Sense of Nature: Essays in Ecophenomenology, that deals with the theory behind ecophenomenology and its application to several areas of environmental philosophy, including aesthetics, the wilderness debate, and restoration.
Other activities include planning a conference on environmental philosophy to be held at the University of Oregon in June 2008 in conjunction with the International Association for Environmental Philosophy.

TEACHING INTERESTS

I teach courses in both philosophy and environmental studies, and my upper-level courses may be taken for credit in either program.
My undergraduate course offerings regularly include environmental philosophy (PHIL 340 or 440), environmental ethics (ENVS 345), and environmental aesthetics (ENVS 440/540). I also teach graduate seminars in continental philosophy and environmental theory, which have recently included courses on animality, ecophenomenology, Henri Bergson, and Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of nature.
I also teach the Introduction to Environmental Studies: Humanities course (ENVS 203) required of all ENVS/ESCI majors, and a seminar for incoming ENVS graduate students, Environmental Studies in Theory and Practice (ENVS 610).
Copies of my current and recent course syllabi are available on my webpage at http://www.uoregon.edu/~toadvine.

SERVICE

At the University of Oregon, I am Director of Graduate Admissions for the Environmental Studies Program and faculty ambassador to the Teaching Effectiveness Program.
I also serve as Secretary of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, http://www.environmentalphilosophy.org/

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

(A copy of my CV is available on my webpage at http://www.uoregon.edu/~toadvine)

Books:

With Charles S. Brown (eds.) Nature’s Edge: Boundary Explorations in Ecological Theory and Practice. Albany: SUNY Press. In Press.

With Leonard Lawlor (eds). The Merleau-Ponty Reader. Evanston: Northwestern University Press. In Press.

Editor, Merleau-Ponty: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers, 4 vols. London: Routledge. 2006.

Translation (with Leonard Lawlor) of Renaud Barbaras, The Being of the Phenomenon: Merleau-Ponty's Ontology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.

With Charles S. Brown (eds). Eco-Phenomenology: Back to the Earth Itself. Albany: SUNY Press, 2003.

With Lester Embree (eds). Merleau-Ponty's Reading of Husserl. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

Journal Articles:

"Gestalts and Refrains: On the Musical Structure of Nature," Environmental Philosophy 2, no. 2 (Fall 2005).

"The Melody of Life and the Motif of Philosophy," Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning Merleau-Ponty's Thought 7 (2005).

"Limits of the Flesh: The Role of Reflection in David Abram's Ecophenomenology," Environmental Ethics 27, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 155-170.

"Singing the World in a New Key: Merleau-Ponty and the Ontology of Sense," Janus Head 7, no. 2 (Winter 2004): 273-283.

"Phenomenological Method in Merleau-Ponty's Critique of Gurwitsch." Husserl Studies 17, no. 3 (2001): 195-205.

"Chiasm and Chiaroscuro: The Logic of the Epoche," Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning Merleau-Ponty's Thought 3 (2001): 225-241.

"Nature and Negation: Merleau-Ponty's Reading of Bergson," Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning Merleau-Ponty's Thought 2 (2000): 107-118.

"The Cogito in Merleau-Ponty's Theory of Intersubjectivity," Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 31 (May 2000): 197-202.

"Naturalizing Phenomenology." In Selected Studies in Phenomenology and Existentialism, vol. 25, edited by Linda Alcoff and Walter Brogan. Supplement to Philosophy Today 44 (1999): 124-131.

"The Art of Doubting: Merleau-Ponty and Cézanne," Philosophy Today 41 (Winter 1997): 545-553.

"Absolution of Finitude in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit," Southwest Philosophy Review 12 (July 1996): 141-156.

Book Chapters:

"Limits of the Flesh: The Role of Reflection in David Abram's Eco-Phenomenology." In Interrogating Ethics: Embodying the Good in Merleau-Ponty, ed. James Hatley, Janice McLane, and Christian Diehm, 249-64. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2006. (Reprinted from Environmental Ethics.)

"Naturalizing Phenomenology." In Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, 4th ed., ed. Michael Zimmerman et al., 326-334 (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005). (Reprinted from Philosophy Today.)

"Sense and Non-Sense of the Event in Merleau-Ponty." In Ereignis auf Französisch: Von Bergson bis Deleuze, edited by Marc Rölli. Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2004.

"The Primacy of Desire and its Ecological Consequences." In Eco-Phenomenology: Back to the Earth Itself, edited by Charles Brown and Ted Toadvine, 139-153. Albany: SUNY, 2003.

"Leaving Husserl's Cave? The Philosopher's Shadow Revisited." In Merleau-Ponty's Reading of Husserl, edited by Ted Toadvine and Lester Embree, 71-94. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

"Merleau-Ponty's Reading of Husserl -- A Chronological Overview." Appendix to Merleau-Ponty's Reading of Husserl, edited by Ted Toadvine and Lester Embree, 227-286. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

"Ecophenomenology in the New Millennium." In The Reach of Reflection: Issues in Phenomenology's Second Century, edited by Steven Crowell, Lester Embree, and Samuel J. Julian. Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, Inc., 2001.

 

COURSE LINKS

ENVS 440/540: Environmental Aesthetics

PHIL 340: Environmental Philosophy

Current and past syllabi are available on my webpage at http://www.uoregon.edu/~toadvine

 

 

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